African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma asserted, in an interview published on Friday, that power in South Africa rests with the ruling party, not with his rival, President Thabo Mbeki.
”Power lies in the ANC,” Zuma — who ousted Mbeki in a bitter ANC leadership contest three months ago — told Britain’s internationally circulated Financial Times newspaper.
”It’s the ANC that wins elections, the ANC that has the power to identify people who must be part of the government … If he [Mbeki] is not part of the ANC leadership, he doesn’t have authority.”
Zuma ousted Mbeki at an ANC conference in December, riding a pro-poor ticket with the backing of the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party — an alliance that has reportedly been under strain in recent weeks.
Zuma said economic policy would not necessarily shift leftwards on his watch.
But he was equivocal on leftist calls for nationalisation, saying: ”I think, let the issues be put on the table so that we discuss what are the merits of that argument.”
Confidence in the South African economy has dipped on the back of divisions within the ruling party and slowing growth fuelled by a national electricity crisis.
Zuma (65) is the ANC’s candidate for the state presidency when Mbeki retires next year, but he is facing a trial in August on 16 charges of fraud, corruption, racketeering and money-laundering.
On Thursday, Zuma backed the idea of a referendum on the reintroduction of the death penalty to deal with rampant violent crime, despite the ANC’s stance against capital punishment.
”I said, if you want a referendum, I think we must speak on it,” he told journalists in Pretoria on Thursday evening, also calling for stricter penalties for crime.
”Democracy does not suppress the freedom of speech.”
The death penalty was abolished by the Constitutional Court shortly after the ANC took over the reins of government in 1994 following the collapse of the apartheid regime.
‘Political polygamist’
Meanwhile, Zuma is a ”political polygamist” elected for his lack of leadership, according to Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille.
Writing in her weekly newsletter on the DA website on Friday, she said a good leader leads by example, setting the bar himself.
”On this count, Zuma is quite obviously flawed,” she said.
A good leader is also not afraid to take unpopular decisions if he believes they are right, because he has a clear vision of how things should be.
”And this is where Jacob Zuma really falls short. He has no vision. In his words he is just ‘a loyal ANC cadre’ implementing what he claims is ‘party policy’.
”This is a leadership cop-out if there ever was one, especially in a party that is still a ‘broad church’ with widely divergent policy approaches,” Zille said.
In the absence of any clear vision of his own, Zuma is incapable of taking a firm and independent stand on issues, or giving direction to his followers, let alone the country, she said.
”Instead he simply bends in the direction of whoever he is courting at that moment. He is best described as a political polygamist, trying to satisfy many different political brides simultaneously,” she said. — AFP, Sapa